18 th century (Figure 19), has several features in common with the
image of the saint in our icon. These are the fine drawing of the hand
raised in blessing, and the quite unusual form of the book, which is
three-dimensional, with a protuberant round spine. These similarities
can serve as indirect evidence that our newly discovered icon really
does contain an allusion to the wonder-working Novgorodian “round
image”, or rather to one of its copies.
Another special feature of our icon is the facial typology of Saint
Nicholas of Myra. The bishop is depicted not as an elder, but almost
middle-aged, with rare flecks of grey in his hair. The forehead is large,
but not bulging, and the face is not round, as is usually the case, but
slightly elongated. These features indicate the originality of the newly
discovered icon and find a certain parallel in the aforementioned late
copies of the wonder-working icon in the Novgorod Museum.
Figure 19. The “Round Image”
of Saint Nicholas. Replica
of the second half of the
16th century with 17th and
18th century restorations.
Novgorod Museum.
Representations around the central panel
Unlike the central panel, regarding which we have voiced only cautious hypotheses, the
representations around the central part of the icon allow us to offer a more confident
explanation of their function. There can be no doubt that these figures and scenes are
intended to emphasise the exceptionally high status of Saint Nicholas and the significance
of his acts and miracles. Precisely this idea is revealed by the figures in the icon’s upper
and middle zones and the scenes in its lower zone. The presentation of the episcopal
insignia here by Christ and the Virgin Mary is duplicated by the insertion of the figures of
angels carrying the insignia. It is interesting that, whereas the omophorion in the Virgin’s
hands resembles the one carried by the angel and the one on the saint’s shoulders, the
appearance of the Gospel varies: in Christ’s hands it has a red edge, in the angel’s a
green edge, and in Saint Nicholas' a white edge and a spine with an unusual pattern.
The accentuation of the handing over of the insignia motif (the Nicene miracle) again
suggests a Novgorodian context: the same motif is emphasised in the above-mentioned
1294 icon of Saint Nicholas from the church of Saint Nicholas on Lipno, although with
different devices.
The choice of subjects from the saint’s numerous miracles and acts for the representations
in the lower zone is noteworthy. They are rescuing and healing, one on water and the other
on dry land. Both scenes recall the main direction of the saint’s activity, his assistance to
people on the earth and on the sea. At the same time we would suggest cautiously that
both miracles are indirectly and allegorically related to the history of the “round image”
with its legendary journey by water from Kiev to Novgorod, its discovery on Lake Ilmen
by the island of Lipno and the miraculous healing of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich
through the agency of this image. The considerable area allotted to the figures of the
angels and the representations of the miracles (including the presentation of the insignia),
the dynamism and vividness of these images surrounding the central figure, clearly reveal
the icon’s special ideological intention: to present Saint Nicholas not only as a leading
figure in the Christian Church, bishop of Myra in Lycia, but also as a worker of miracles.
Certain features permit us to hazard yet another, very cautious suggestion/hypothesis,
namely that what we see in the newly discovered icon is “an icon within an icon.”
The arrangement of angels’ figures, which seem to form an imaginary circle joined by
Journal of Icon Studies
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